A week in the woods

The Verdon river is one of the most beautiful places to stay and hike in the south of France. On this trip we are starting on the "ancienne route Napoléon" in Saint-Vallier-de-Thiey from where we are slowly making our way to the Verdon gorge over mountains, through forests and tunnels. This trip had it all: nights with freezing temperatures and days with 30°C and no shade; long stretches of flat and easy dirt roads and near vertical ascends on exposed rock formations.

I had been eyeing another hike in Scotland for a long time and when I came across the [Arran Coastal Way], I was immediately hooked. Arran is described as Scotland in miniature because it has everything that Scotland has to offer but condensed into a small-ish island (mountains, green pastures, shores, deer, puffins, seals, midges...). The seven stages of this long-distance hike circle the entire island along its shores.

This hike I wanted to be different than all previous. For the first time, I wanted to guide our group into higher mountains. I also wanted it to be less strenuous than the other hikes before so I planned shorter days. Little did I know how much more exhausting it is to climb mountains, especially when it’s 30°C all day long 😅

The West Highland Way is a long-distance hike that leads you over 154km (96mi) through the west highlands in Scotland. It's a quite famous hike as it offers a variety of landscapes and is very beginner friendly due it's many places to stock up your food supplies and the many hotels along the way. We, however, decided to pack tent and stove and go all in on this hike.